Of course, Germans know from daily reports in their MSM how terrible things in Iraq have gotten since the U.S. decided to topple mildly authoritarian president Saddam.

Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents promises to shatter some of the German MSM's dearest held beliefs. Translation of the docs may take some time, but there are already a few interesting ones on display.

Such as this order by Saddam's son Qusay regarding the use of Kuwaiti POW's as human shields... (download time may be substantial at times)

Too bad the guy had to take an early exit. He'd be a cherished anti-war speaker at German peace demonstrations by now...

From an interview with Claire Berlinskj, author of "Menace in Europe":

European anti-Americanism is as old as America itself. It tends to flare up and then die down, flaring up generally at times of European insecurity. Certainly, since the end of the Cold War Europe has really come into its own, and unfortunately, Europe's own is historically rather an unattractive thing. If young Germans are now seen muttering darkly about how they deplore American militarism-a sentiment, I am persuaded, that represents nothing more than their own stifled longing to switch on the tank's ignition and thrill once again to the low deep rumble of its engine-it is certainly nothing new; Germans have complained for a very long time of these things. If we heard less of this during the Cold War, yes, of course it was because the alternative to our militarism was the hammer and sickle; this kind of choice does seem to sober people up. (emphasis added)

About 'Weltspiegel's' donations for 'poor' Americans: Our reader George M did a search on the property of Jerry Garten and came up with the interesting information that the guy apparently is a rather wealthy chap...

I wonder if any of you smart internet folks could come up with pictorial information about Garten's home, through Google earth oder Google local or some other search service.

John Rosenthal points to an interesting fact: Tom Koenigs, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Afghanistan is a former left wing street fighter from the entourage of Joschka Fischer, ex-foreign minister of Germany.

BTW, Germany's foreign ministry is still home of Joscha Schmierer, another Fischer friend, who in the seventies was leader of one of West Germany's worst communist groups (KBW = Kommunistischer Bund Westdeutschland). Schmierer at the time even had some nice things to say about Cambodian communist leader Pol Pot.

His anti-American rhetoric has mellowed considerably since his KBW days, of course (his analysis of American-European relations even has some clearly pro-American connotations), but, of course again, in his job at Germany's foreign ministry he opposed the U.S. decision to go to war with Saddam's Iraq.

In our first posting on useful media idiots, we reported on Germany's most watched foreign affairs television program "Weltspiegel." Earlier this year, the program ran a story on elderly Americans supposedly freezing to death in their homes because of rising oil prices and a lack of government welfare.

This is all certainly very heartwarming and a great opportunity for German (and Swiss) snobs to look down on America and its perceived lack of social welfare. The only problem is this: We think the money would be much better spent on seniors closer to home. Because while we can't find any reports of massive senior deaths in America due to cold, we have seen quite a fewreports on seniors baking to death in their own homes right in the heart of Socialwelfaristan, aka Old Europe. And we aren't talking about a few dozen or even a few hundred deaths. We are talking about tens-of-thousands of deaths. In France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and elsewhere. Somehow the all-powerful, all-compassionate European social welfare model was incapable of helping thousands of vulnerable citizens survive a heat wave just three years ago.

So we at Davids Medienkritik would like to propose the following: Instead of helping the "freezing Americans," our good, caring friends at "Weltspiegel" should keep their money and donate it towards providing European seniors air-conditioners. And if they don't have enough to go around, they can ask the compassionate American "friends" for help with additional donations. I can see it already: Help a needy Euro-Senior avoid heatstroke this Summer! Donate now!

This is what gets me - that such blatantly outrageous lies can be broadcast in the German media, and without outlets such as Medienkritik, will go completely unchallenged. And let's not call this anything but what it is - an outright, intentional lie for the purpose of "reminding" Germans of why they should fear, "amerikanische Verhältnisse"."

Here is an interesting piece by a Medienkritik reader who criticizes a SPON article. I haven't made any changes to the text.

I am an American citizen of Afghan origins. I have been reading
both your blog and Spiegel for a long time. I enjoy your calling of a
spade a spade.

Spiegel notes that NATO chased Taliban out.
No, it was not NATO. It was US/UK/Australia after Pakistan was clearly
warned by President Bush that you are "either with us or against us."
Given the gravity of the situation in the aftermath of 9/11, the US
could not rely on a committee to fight America's war after the
distasteful experience of Kosovo. America said, thank you but no thank
you to European forces that could not operate with the US military
anyway. And Rumsfeld's pronouncements on putting the mission before
the coalition is well documented. European "forces" joined the
festivities only in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif after Taliban were roundly
routed after their last stand in Tora Bora. Germans came to the scene
much much later in Kunduz, a northern city and not the southeastern
parts of Afghanistan where Americans/Brits are still fighting against
Taliban/Al-Qaeda. Currently, the European "forces" which actually rely
on American firepower and logistics capability should they come under
fire are seen as nothing but a bunch of tourists in Afghanistan --
almost on par with NGOs whom Afghans view as a bunch of spoiled expats
who live off the charity given to Afghans. However, among European
Left there is this revisionism that "NATO chased Taliban out." Afghans
know who the real power on the ground is. Expect European "forces" to
land in Iraq also when the country is finally pacified ... and German
children will be taught about bringing "German liberty" to Iraqis.

You should read the complete SPON article. You get the impression German military forces singlehandedly conquered Afghanistan... I vaguely remember Germany didn't even have planes to transport troops to Afghanistan!

Anyway, it's interesting to note that the German media all of a sudden have discovered the often appalling treatment of Christians living under Islamic rule (the SPON article is about an Afghan man who converted to Christianity during his stay in Germany, and who is threatened with capital punishment after this return to Afghanistan.) Not that there hadn't been many instances in the last years in Arab countries, in Pakistan, in Indonesia, in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, etc., etc., where Christians where threatened, sometimes killed, often mutilated, by radical Muslims, just because of their faith. I don't remember this making any waves in the German media...

Any idea why this might be different in the case of post-Taliban Afghanistan?

This is not on German media, but it is relevant to German media. ABC News just ran a video report questioning whether media coverage of Iraq is too negative. This is LONG overdue. Unless the mainstream media catches on to this conversation soon, it will continue to lose viewers and readers in droves because far too many people realize they are getting a negatively biased picture of events. WATCH THE VIDEO. (Note the loud standing ovation after the woman's initial question.)

The situation is even worse in Germany where the news is even more extremely biased to the negative. If omissions are lies then the German people are being lied to on a massive scale on Iraq.

UPDATE: I was flipping through the channels and stopped on MSNBC and the "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" program. I literally couldn't believe what I was watching. This had to be one of the angriest, vindictive cases of attack journalism I've ever witnessed, and that is saying something. Mr. Olbermann absolutely blasted anyone and everyone suggesting the media might actually be biased. His self-righteous diatribe of attacks was punctuated by a veiled threat to the effect of: "It's a bad idea to attack the guy with the ink factory." He also went on to claim that everyone who had "attacked the messenger" from Nixon on was "O" for forever. When I watch the sort of outrageous performance given by Mr. Olbermann tonight I am incredibly motivated to keep on blogging. It reminds me why I got into blogging to begin with. This will continue to drive viewers away from profoundly biased individuals like Mr. Olbermann and his program and into the arms of the new media: Turn off, Tune out, Log In.

Check out the match between Germany and the USA today/tonight: It will be carried live in the USA starting at 2:25PM EST on ESPN2. The game will be shown in Germany on ZDF starting at 20:15 (8:15PM Berlin time). Don't miss it!

UPDATE: Germany scores less than a minute into the second half! German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn with an amazing save in the 66th minute robbing the US of a goal! Germany with another goal in the 73rd minute! And ANOTHER goal! And Ballack heads another one in! And Kahn with another amazing save...everything is going Germany's way. The USA finally gets a goal after a hard collision involving Oliver Kahn. FINAL SCORE Germany 4 - USA 1. Congratulations team Germany! (As usual, SPIEGEL was wrong again)

"Why is the German media reporting again about the horrible Abu Ghraib pictures taken by dishonorable US soldiers, but not about the even more horrible Darfur pictures taken by an honorable former U.S. Marine?"

According to SPIEGEL's print edition of March 20, 2006 (p. 17), due to tough U.S. resistance, Germany will get only limited access to the UN Security Council talks on Iran's nuclear program. Der Spiegel wrote the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, refused entry to his German counterpart Günter Pleuger to the so-called P5 talks at the UN, and he continues to persistently call EU-3 proposals "British-French proposals".

Mr. Pleuger indeed is hard to imagine as participant in any talks with the U.S. at the UN. I vividly remember his sneering, arrogant tone during the UNSC talks pre the Iraq invasion. .

If you thought America-bashing couldn't get much worse in Germany: Think again.

Estranged SPD Chairman Oskar Lafontaine elevated the hate to a new level this past Friday, labeling Americans "terrorists." Mr. Lafontaine, who many remember as Gerhard Schroeder's running mate and right-hand man in the SPD's successful 1998 campaign, has since departed the SPD (Social Democrats) and currently finds himself at the head of Germany's radical "New Left" party (a recent merger between the WASG and PDS parties) in the German parliament. It was during a speech to "New Left" party members that he made the following statements as recorded by several German media outlets; (primarily local newspapers):

"Lafontaine Calls Americans Terrorists

Koblenz - For the boss of the leftists fraction in the Bundestag, Oskar Lafontaine, US-Americans are comparable to terrorists because of their actions in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

"For us - the Left - terrorism is the killing of innocent people to achieve political objectives," said Lafontaine in Koblenz.

According to that the attackers who flew into the World Trade Center in 2001 are terrorists. "But following this definition the Americans are also terrorists when they bomb cities and villages in Afghanistan (and) Iraq and kill tens-of-thousands of innocents," shouted the former SPD Chairman during an election event of the "Wahlalternative Arbeit und Soziale Gerechtigkeit" party (WASG).

Only the Left formulates this "simple recognition of humanity," that no power in the world is entitled to kill innocent people for its political objectives. So the wars in the Middle East are not wars for freedom, democracy or women's rights. "They are entirely and alone wars for the oil supplies and the gas supplies," said the fraction chairman as a part of the election campaign for the Rhineland-Pfalz state election on March 26."

It is worth noting that Rhineland-Pfalz is also home to tens-of-thousands of American military personnel and their dependents and the site of several large US bases including one of America's largest military communities outside the United States in the Kaiserslautern/Landstuhl/Ramstein area. How might Mr. Lafontaine's repugnant statements, directed against all Americans, potentially threaten the safety and well being of those American men, women and children?

The 1998 SPD Election Victory: Two Avid America-Bashers in a Former Life... (Schroeder left/Lafontaine right)

And note that Mr. Lafontaine didn't just blame anyone for America's perceived crimes. He didn't just vilify Bush or Republicans or conservatives. Instead, he shamelessly and indiscriminately wrote-off all Americans as terrorists. If that isn't evidence that the "New Left" is a radical, racist party, then we don't know what is.

Let's also not forget that half of the "New Left" consists of the PDS, the successor to the SED party, also known as the dictatorial ruling party of Communist East Germany. These people are hardly in a position to lecture others on the killing of innocent civilians. During the Cold War, the SED was directly responsible for the death, imprisonment and torture of thousands of its own citizens.

"Killing of Innocent People to Achieve Political Objectives": One of Thousands Victimized by East German Communists: The Predecessors of the "New Left"

In other words the "New Left" is hardly in a position to slander all Americans as terrorists when many of them supported (and in some cases even worked for) a bloody, oppressive Communist junta less than two decades ago.

Lafontaine's Statements: Not Big News in Germany

Despite the radical nature of his statements, few large media outlets have picked up on Lafontaine's outrageous hate-mongering. Most of the online sources that ran the story are small, local newspapers. Perhaps major German media are reluctant to shed light on the growing monster (anti-Americanism) that they have helped to create. Perhaps they would rather not embarrass a member of Germany's hard left anymore than he has already embarrassed himself. After all, he is one of theirs. Whatever the reason, the mainstream German media has dropped the ball on this story. We haven't.

Davids Medienkritik has delivered examples of German media bias on a daily basis for nearly three years. But some readers still wonder whether there really is a larger pattern of anti-Americanism or whether we are we just "cherry picking" the negative. Well, the international media research institute "Medien Tenor" has just released (another) study that reaffirms what we've suspected for quite some time. In the summary of a newsletter entitled, "Bush has a difficult standing among Europe's journalists," the institute reports (translated):

"International Media Tenor Analysis: ARD and ZDF see the USA most Critically

Bonn. In January 2006 the proportion of "anti-American" reporting rose noticeably in the most influential European media. The reason was, above all, increased media attention on the Iraq conflict as well as the relations of the USA with Syria, Iran and Palestine. This is the result of an international analysis of the Bonn-based media research institute Media Tenor. Also in Asian media, that otherwise report in a balanced manner, journalists evaluated the USA more negatively than usual. Important topics there were, among other things, the US air bases in Japan and Google's involvement in China. The media analysis for the Middle East provided results that indicated the Arab language television broadcaster Al Jazeera showed small improvement in its evaluation of the USA. Print media, on the other hand, maintained their negative position in light of the Iraq conflict.

Along with President Bush, the international media viewed the US military especially critically in January 2006. That was also the case for all of 2005, as the Media Tenor analysis showed. During the entire past year, conflicts dominated the news, with primary focus on Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran and Syria. The reporting in Europe was especially critical of the US in 2005 at the "ARD Tagesthemen" and the "ZDF heute/journal," followed by the British media "The Times" and "6 O'Clock News" on BBC1. In the French media, on the other hand, the image of the US improved somewhat. While the critical position of the journalists towards Bush was an important cause of the overall negative value of the USA in 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was primarily presented either positively or neutrally. Only in the Arab language media in January 2006 showed a somewhat more negative tone in reporting on Rice.

Note that, of those media analyzed, the most US critical media in all Europe were Germany's two largest, state-sponsored television news broadcasts. Unfortunately, many Germans view these same state media as impartial and unbiased because they are (supposedly) independent of commercial interests. But they are necessarily dependent on the German government via the German taxpayer. And that means our German public television friends rely mightily on politicians who support continued and increasing levels of taxation (through the GEZ* fee and other taxes) to support, protect and expand their budgets, personnel and influence.

Not surprisingly, there is a deadly aversion against those who would so much as suggest cutting or even eliminating the taxes flowing through the umbilical cord. America, with its diverse, rough-and-tumble, private-sector media and emaciated public broadcasting, is seen as an anathema. There is great favoritism in Germany towards (and willingness to forgive/circle-the-wagons around) those who staunchly support taxation for public broadcasting. They tend to find themselves left of center: The SPD, the Greens, the PDS/WASG and sometimes the CDU**. These parties are populated with, and led by, the same 68ers who shared formative experiences with those sitting behind the editors' desks of so many German newsrooms today. There is a clear but unspoken symbiotic relationship at work. The result is political bias. The lack of influential alternative media only exacerbates the problem, especially when it comes to foreign reporting.

An NTV correspondent recently remarked that German media displayed a diversity of opinion. After all there are those who favor the SPD (Social Democrats) and those who favor the more conservative Union parties and so on. Absolutely right: There is an ample supply of commentary across the German political spectrum when it comes to internal, domestic politics, (although we would contend that there is still a bias towards the SPD and Greens.) But the picture is very different when it comes to reporting on the United States and other foreign countries: Here a shrill, extreme monotone dominates the media landscape. And the loudest, shrillest voices radiate from the usual suspects, some of them well-respected news sources within Germany. Sadly, these extremists are also influential opinion-shapers. Add to that a palpable German cultural skepticism towards foreigners. The result? Many Germans' views of the US consist of a regurgitated amalgamation of negative media reports, Hollywood flicks and fast-food legends. (Yuck!) Those who have lived in the US or actually know Americans tend to be most immune.

So what can we do to counteract the anti-American bias in German media and society? Here are a few suggestions.

Increase the influence, reach, and number of German-language blogs, particularly those with a media critical attitude. That includes blogs of all political persuasions. Additionally, increase other media alternatives with a more balanced view of the United States and other foreign nations within Germany, possibly via talk radio, television or printed material.

Increase funding (public and private on both sides of the Atlantic) for exchange programs so that more Germans can visit the United States and see the nation and its people for themselves. There is no better way to circumvent and short-circuit the stereotypes and biased reporting. The same goes for Americans. More Americans ought to learn German and participate in exchanges to Germany.

The US government should stop spending public affairs money on art exhibits and ballet excursions and start spending it on building a staff of professionals dedicated to countering and responding to bias in the German media. That means hiring people fluent in German (preferably German citizens) who can go on all the German talk shows and news programs and counter the anti-American bias on a regular basis. You can reach 1,000 people with an art exhibit; you can reach millions with a television appearance. It also wouldn't hurt if the US Ambassador to Germany actually spoke German!

Provide increased access to US government officials for relatively unbiased German media such as Die Welt and Focus. Also continue to engage biased media including SPIEGEL, ARD and ZDF, but do so very carefully and respond aggressively and proactively should they pull a stunt such as the recent Karen Hughes interview debacle. That could include formally complaining to German diplomats and politicians. (Just to be clear: We are not blaming Undersecretary Hughes for what happened, it was clearly SPIEGEL's fault.)

(*For those of you who have never owned a television or radio in Germany, the GEZ fee is a mandatory fixed tax on everyone who owns a television or radio used to fund public broadcasting. Government bureaucrats are actually sent door to door to enforce its payment.)

(** The SPD are the Social Democrats (Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's party); the PDS/WASG is Germany's new far-left party; the CDU is the Christian Democrat party (Chancellor Angela Merkel's party) which is viewed as "conservative" by German standards but still favors big social-welfare spending.)

Update from David: How timely: today (Sunday, March 19, 2006) on WELTSPIEGEL (one of German public tv's most venomous anti-American programmes): a report on a phony solidarity action of WELTSPIEGEL for "poor Americans". Quote: "In the USA in winter time and again old folks freeze to death in their beds.". WELTSPIEGEL was preceeded on ARD by a heart wrenching report "Tookie and the Terminator" about the execution of a saint: Mr. Tookie Williams. Was the report biased? Well, somewhat... I would guess that it was 100 percent in favor of Tookie Williams and 0 percent in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger. And of course - capital punishment in the U.S. was criticized with the usual fervor. Your typical anti-American Sunday menu on Germany's public tv...

Is this the hundredth article SPIEGEL ONLINE has done on the "tragedy" at Guantanamo? Are the German people obsessed yet? Is it (along with Abu Ghraib) the new Mai Lai? Do we have enough material to hold over the Americans' heads now? Does this cancel out the Nazi crimes? The Amis murdered the Indians and the Eskimos too...

This article is called "Guantanamo: Cry for Help before the Tenth Suicide Attempt." It tells of the "horrible" conditions and injustice of Guantanamo. Like this recent Sueddeutsche article, it portrays Guantanamo inmates as hapless victims of America's war. They're all terrorists innocent Afghani vegetable gardeners after all. Wrong place at the wrong time. Now they're all committing suicide and going on hunger strikes. The Horror...The Horror!

Well, let us make one suggestion in the interest of balance: How about SPIEGEL or Sueddeutsche or Stern or any of the other cynical, self-righteous propaganda rags do just one front-page article on the children and relatives of the nearly 3,000 victims of September 11, 2001. Remember them? Yeah, the families of the people who slowly burned to death in a metal hell. The people who fell 100 stories and splattered their guts all over the New York pavement. The people held captive in airplanes until they were instantly immolated. Maybe the German people should read just one article about the plight of their families. (Let's not forget that some of the victims were German.)

More American inhumanity in Iraq...

And after they finish with that, SPIEGEL & Co. ought to write a few more articles on the hundreds-of-thousands of victims lying in Saddam's mass graves. They ought to write a few more about the hundreds-of-thousands imprisoned, tortured and murdered in North Korea and Iran. They ought to write a few more about the millions murdered, imprisoned and forced into exile in Cambodia and Vietnam by Communist thugs. They ought to write a few more about the German government's current business dealings in Sudan.

But hey, none of that matters. This is all about America and America is evil baby. Face it. That's what Germans are going to read about. It's on our agenda. We've known it since 1968. We'll keep on pushing back until the Nazi crimes don't hurt anymore: Indians-Slaves-Mai-Lai-Vietnam-Abu-Ghraib-Guantanamo. Until we get our moral authority back. That's right. Until we don't have to feel so "grateful" to the American "friends" for "liberating" us and "protecting" us anymore. Eben.

One of the great advantages of German-American blog carnivals is that you discover other blogs with a wealth of interesting postings. Case in point: A two-part piece on the blog "Pursuit of Serenity" (a blog written in English by a German from Dusseldorf.) entitled, "The day I woke as pro-American." (Part I and Part II.)

Money passage:

"...And then, there was the bright morning of 9/11. I still can recall the wheather conditions at the very moment the breaking news came in...

I was surfing the internet at that moment. And I kept on surfing the internet for the rest of the day. I simply couldn't move. Since I didn't own a TV set (I hate TV, to put it mildly), I turned on the radio. I sensed the growing tide of fear, anger and disbelief without myself being influenced by any pictures. It soon became pretty obvious to me, that the USA was under attack and that this day would have a deep impact on the identy of the USA and would deeply affect the transatlantic relationship.

A few days later, I attented the demonstration in Berlin to commemorate 9/11. I remember a lot of people, holding "solidarity with the USA"-signs. I remember then-ambassador Dan Coats thanking us for showing our sympathy and expressing our solidarity. I remember fighting back tears during the performance of "Amazing Grace". But one thing I found disturbing: apart from the signs calling for solidarity, there were also posters reading "No war!", and I thought by myself: "Hm. This meeting is supposed to be about mourning and commemorating. It's not an anti-war rally. It's not the right moment to tell the USA once more what to do (or not)."

We all know what happened in the aftermath of 9/11. Since the topic of this post is neither 9/11 nor the war on terror or the war in Iraq, I only want to take on one point concerning this aftermath. Paying attention to the news coverage by German MSM, I got the impression that U.S. citizens all thought alike and that their only news source seemed to be Fox News Channel. I wasn't too happy about that and I couldn't understand why the Americans deliberately dumped freedom of speech and variety of thought in favor of watching Fox News. Then again, I came across plenty of articles, colums, op-ed pieces etc. dealing with the war on terror and the war in Iraq and expressing a vast variety of viewpoints and opinions. "Who the heck is going to read all this stuff, if anyone down there is watching Fox News all the time?", I wondered.

This latter thought came on my mind again, when I got intrigued with China. German MSM don't provide much in-depth information about China. Hence, I had to use sources from the U.S. And again: loads of articles, columns, op-ed pieces on "The rise of China", "A new super power in the making", "The power of the dragon" etc. And again the question: If all Americans are such war-mongering lunatics, their heads filled with air - why all those journalists, pundits and experts care to launch all this stuff?" (emphasis ours)

Two interesting points: First, the anti-war posters observed by the author (Marian Tobias Wirth) shortly after 9/11. This is further evidence that the squandered solidarity myth is just that: A myth.

Second, the author's description of how the German media shaped his view of Americans (as a bunch of mind-numbed, brainwashed, war-mongering, lunatic Fox News junkies.) Here we have evidence that another myth, namely the "gleichgeschaltet myth" is alive and well in Germany.

Finally, Marian's first-hand account is just one more concrete example of the massive problem we've been talking about for three years on this site. The fact that many Germans are daily exposed to distorted, biased, one-sided disinformation on the USA. This sad reality has noticeably damaged German-American relations and significantly complicated transatlantic communication. All too often, Germans' views of America are dominated by spin, negative media images, and stereotypes. That is what we've set out to change.

Endnote: Marian mentioned that German media do not always provide in-depth coverage of China. With a few exceptions, that is generally true. They're not particularly interested in Sudan either, despite the fact that the German government is actively promoting trade there while the Sudanese government is involved in genocide and massive human rights abuses. Double-standards?